Two Shandelee Music Festival events this week

Meta Weiss and David Requiro

Contributed photos

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — The 21st Anniversary Season of the Shandelee Music Festival continues on Saturday, August 9 at 7 p.m. with a performance by the “Young Artists of Shandelee” pianists Helen Shen and Claudia Hu.

Helen Shen gave her formal U.S. orchestra debut this past February, appearing as a soloist with the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra, having first appeared at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall at age six as a winner of the Russian Music Festival Competition. Pianist Claudia Hu has appeared numerous times at the Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, and the St. Nicoló Auditorium in Chioggia, Italy. In the fall of 2012, she performed two full-length piano solo fundraising concerts to benefit the Shandelee Music Festival. Hu is the three-time winner of the Russian Music Festival Competition.

The hills of Shandelee will ring out with the music of Vivaldi, Paganini, Shostakovich, Menotti as well as rarely heard works by contemporary composers Jean-Paul Bottemanne, Matthew Bridgham and Jan Radzynski when cellists David Requiro and Meta Weiss perform an “Evening of Chamber Music” on Wednesday, August 13 at 7 p.m. The performers will be joined by celebrated pianist Cullan Bryant as the 21st anniversary season of the Shandelee Music Festival continues.

David Requiro has won first prize in the Naumburg and Gaspar Cassadó International Violoncello Competitions as well as first prize in the Washington International and Irving M. Klein String Competitions. He has soloed with the Tokyo Philharmonic National Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony and many orchestras across America, and at venues like Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Cellist Meta Weiss has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, The Kimmel Center, Royal Albert Hall and Teatro Britanico in Peru. She is the top prize winner in many competitions. Weiss is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at The Julliard School. She will join the faculty at the University of Puget Sound in the fall as artist-in-residence. Pianist Cullan Bryant maintains a schedule of over 70 concerts per year as an active chamber and collaborative pianist. He has performed with many world-class artists and symphony orchestras at such venues as Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Detroit’s Orchestra Hall and Carnegie Hall.

Both concerts will be followed by a specialty dessert reception. Concert tickets cost $25 for adults and $10 for students 17 and under. Advanced reservations are required, and can be made by calling 845/439-3277. Online ticket reservations are available at www.shandelee.org/concerts/tickets.htm.